No Man’s Sky Next's first trailer shows the game is finally what you always hoped it would be

Third person mode, multiplayer, and all the mind-blowing things we've seen in No Man’s Sky Next so far

You're not quite going to believe the trailer you're about to watch is one for No Man's Sky. Yes, that No Man's Sky; the huge, but weirdly lonely survival crafting game that failed to meets its lofty expectations back in 2016.

This trailer, on the other hand, features multiplayer, third person ground and ship gameplay, unprecedented base building, and a ROBOT DOG. Yes, previous No Man's Sky promos have been somewhat... misleading in the past, but this one - for No Man's Sky Next, the free update coming to PS4, PC, and Xbox One on July 24 - looks to be the real deal.

That's because developer Hello Games has finally added full multiplayer to No Man's Sky, a much demanded feature for its procedurally generated sci-fi epic, so players can now traverse the great beyond with up to three friends or strangers, and even fight against each other for a leg up in the infinite universe. You can get a glimpse of that, and more, in the newly released gameplay trailer below.

Hello Games has stated that, in addition to multiplayer and third-person gameplay, No Man's Sky Next brings a visual overhaul to the game (notice the gaseous rings around that planet in the sky?), as well as expanded base building, and the ability to command freighters, where you can send crews out on excursions or invite your friends round to take on multiplayer missions.

There's even full character customisation now, which explains why some of the players in the trailer are dressed up as one of those little Gek aliens, who were previously just trading NPCs in the base version of the game. You can read more about all the new things coming with the Next update, free to all owners of No Man's Sky, in this PS Blog post from the game's Creative Director, Sean Murray.

Could... could this really be the version of No Man's Sky that we've always been hoping for? We'll have to find out NEXT week (you can blame Mr. Murray for that pun), when the Next update hits PS4 and PC alongside the game's anticipated Xbox One release.

No Man's Sky Next arrives in just over a week's time, but here's the best open world games to play in the meantime.